Bots are a big problem in web2 and web3. Tools like reCaptcha can help to stop simpler bots but not the more advanced ones. There are also “farms” where people in poor countries are paid to defeat this mechanisms for some nefarious purpose. Even when a real human is behind the keyboard, the ability to create multiple fake accounts can also be problematic for things like product reviews on Amazon, online harassment or even online voting.
Proof of humanity is a decentralized application built on top of Ethereum that solves the problem in a novel way. Instead of clever pieces of technology trying to detect bots or fake accounts, it relies on well placed economic incentives to have humans vouching for other humans while keeping the registry free of fake accounts and bots.
The process from creating a profile to being approved to the registry of verified humans is describe in the diagram below. The red blocks are steps that involve either paying or receiving crypto while the blue blocks describe changes in the status of the application or the user.
Whenever a a problem arises, the dispute is handed over to another decentralized protocol called Kleros that use a jury of humans to come to a verdict. Kleros’ process is greatly simplify in the chart below for readability.
Proof of humanity is not only a pioneer in the field of decentralized identity but it’s also a test bed for universal basic income. Its native token, UBI (Universal Basic Income), is streamed non stop for any verified human in the registry.
The only problem, and it’s a big one, is the fees. When I tried to submit my own application I was asked to pay 0.125 ETH (~$400 USD) for a reimbursable security deposit and around $200 USD in gas fees to execute the smart contract. $600 USD is a huge barrier of entry for almost everyone. Luckily in their roadmap they have already planned for this year to deploy the smart contracts to an Ethereum layer 2 and to create bridges to mainnet, other layer 2s and sidechains.